


After

by bad_ash10



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23503099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bad_ash10/pseuds/bad_ash10
Summary: May returns to the Lighthouse from Tahiti. Her first priority is to see Daisy, to inform her of Phil Coulson's passing.
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 72





	After

**Author's Note:**

> Trapped in the house self-quarantining and trying not to catch Covid-19. Feeling a little down, so I thought I'd write this little piece. With season 7 coming soon, I still can't get past Coulson's death, so here we are lol! 
> 
> In all seriousness, I hope you guys are all well and staying healthy!

He had insisted she have a quinjet for _after_ so she could tell Daisy in person. At the time Melinda had protested, but now, flying back to the base in a quinjet carrying his body, was what she wanted to do. What she _needed_ to do. The only thing keeping her from falling apart was knowing she had a mission.

—---

After May got back to the Lighthouse, she immediately sought out Daisy. The one thought that had kept her from breaking down over the last few hours was getting to Daisy. _She needs to hear it from me._

Melinda passed Yo-Yo and Mack in the hallway but kept her eyes straight ahead. They would know what her presence meant. Thankfully they didn’t try to stop her, they knew where she was headed.

The walk to Daisy’s bunk seemed to take an eternity, but at last she found herself at Daisy’s doorway. Now that she was here, May wasn’t sure she could do it. All her focus for the last few hours had been to get to Daisy, but she hadn’t once thought of how she would say it.

May inhaled deeply as she prepared herself for what was coming and rapped lightly on Daisy’s door.

“What?” Came Daisy’s short reply through the door.

May opened her mouth to say something. Anything. But she found she couldn’t get any sound past the lump now forming in her throat.

After a few seconds, Daisy whipped the door open in hurry, obviously expecting someone else. As soon as she saw May, though, her expression changed as she realized what this meant. “Oh. May,” she said defeatedly.

May could feel the tears welling in her eyes, and they quickly clouded her vision. She saw a vague outline of Daisy stepping aside for her to come in and heard the door click behind her. Blinking a few times to clear her vision, May noticed the one chair in Daisy’s room was full of laundry, as usual. So, she sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for Daisy to join her.

Daisy though, was still by the door, rooted in place and staring at a spot on the rug. “When?” She asked in a small, shaky voice.

May tried again to speak and had to fight to get her words out without breaking down. She managed to whisper, “During the night.”

Daisy nodded a little too vehemently and sat heavily next to Melinda. After a moment, a sob escaped her throat and her face crumpled.

Daisy’s reaction was too much for Melinda- the dam holding back her tears finally broke along with Daisy’s heart. May pulled her into a fierce hug, trying to physically hold the two of them together, to keep them both from falling to pieces.

—-----

They sat together for what seemed like an eternity, grieving Phil Coulson and dreading what would come next.

Finally, Daisy spoke again. “Do you want a drink?” she asked into Melinda’s shoulder.

May couldn’t help herself and gave just the slightest hint of a laugh as she released Daisy slowly. “Sure.”

Daisy reached past May and pulled an unopened bottle of Haig out of the drawer of her nightstand. At May’s raised eyebrows Daisy replied sadly, “I heard him mention it and bought it for a birthday present in case he...” she trailed off, but May knew she was going to say _in case he lived that long._ His birthday would’ve been next month.

Despite Daisy’s lack of glasses they drank anyway, both taking turns to swig some of the whiskey from time to time as they lounged on the bed, alternating from sharing stories about Coulson, crying fresh tears, and grieving in silence in equal measures.

When only about half the bottle was left, Daisy turned to May. “Can I ask you something? It’s kind of serious.”

May studied her for a moment before giving her a light nod.

“Do you know what was in the letter he wrote me?” She was eyeing May with such an intense stare, that May was temporarily taken aback.

Puzzled as to where this was going, Melinda answered carefully. “He told me the gist after we got to Tahiti.”

“There’s one line I’m referring to in particular, and I want to know if you feel that way, too, or if he was wrong.” Daisy was suddenly a little unsure of herself.

May had no idea what she was talking about. “What line?”

Daisy sat up and pulled the letter out of a box on her nightstand. She went to the last page and pointed out a paragraph to May.

Holding the letter gently, Melinda noticed the wear on the paper, and imagined daisy had read this letter daily since Phil had given it to her. The lump returned in her throat as she saw his handwriting and began to read.

_After I’m gone, Melinda is going to need you, Daisy. She loves you so, so much, and she will probably pretend she is fine after a week or two, so you won’t have to see her suffer anymore. And I’ll tell you a secret: when she pushes you away to protect you, that’s when she will need you most. Oh, and another secret: you’re basically our daughter (go ahead and say what I’m sure you’re thinking: “ew, God, don’t be so lame!”), but you are. We both love you and are so proud of the person you’ve turned out to be._

Melinda slowly handed the letter back to Daisy, not wanting to see more of Phil’s letter than she had permission to read.

Daisy was looking expectantly at her.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?” Daisy asked uncertainly.

May hesitated for just a moment, closing her eyes against the fresh tears. “I do love you, Daisy.”

Fiddling with a string on the blanket, she asked, “So you think of me like your daughter then.” The way she said it, May couldn’t tell whether it had been a question or a statement.

May sighed sadly and put her arm around Daisy’s shoulders. “Yeah. And he’s right about another thing, too.” She sniffed and wiped away a tear before it had a chance to fall. “I do need you.”

Daisy put the bottle of Haig on the nightstand and turned into May’s shoulder. “It hurts like hell.”

May nodded silently, still fighting back tears.

Wrapping an arm around Melinda, Daisy said, “When you’re ready, I’ll go with you to tell the others.”

“Mack and Yo-yo saw me walk in. They’ll have told Simmons by now.”

Daisy nodded. “They’ll still want to hear it from you.”

Melinda squeezed Daisy tighter. “I can’t. Not yet.” She took a deep breath. “For now, I’d rather just sit with you.”


End file.
